The silver eel (''Ariosoma mellissii''), also known as the Melliss's conger,Common names for ''Ariosoma mellissii''
at www.fishbase.org. is an

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

in the family

Congridae The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name). The family inc ...

(conger/garden eels).''Ariosoma mellissii''
at www.fishbase.org. It was described by

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive re ...

in 1870.Günther, A., 1870 (25 June) ef. 1995''Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum.'' Catalogue of the Physostomi, containing the families Gymnotidae, Symbranchidae, Muraenidae, Pegasidae, and of the Lophobranchii, Plectognathi, Dipnoi, ... hru... Leptocardii, in the British Museum. v. 8: i-xxv + 1-549. It is a rare

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

eel which is known solely from

St. Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

, in the southeastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is known to dwell at a maximum depth of 67 meters. Males can reach a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of 42.8 centimetres. Named in honor of

John Charles Melliss John Charles Melliss (23 January 1835 – 23 August 1910) was a British engineer and amateur naturalist. Details He was born on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. His father, Lieutenant G.W. Melliss, was an officer of the St ...

(1835-1911), amateur naturalist and government surveyor on St. Helena (island in the South Atlantic), who presented the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(Natural History).

References

Ariosoma Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1870 {{Anguilliformes-stub